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Lisa Foster, Producer and Talent Coach since 2007 with Such A Voice, has launched a successful podcast show with her former radio partner.

“Peculiar Podcast” started over dinner when she and her former radio partner started playing around with the idea of starting a podcast. Knowing that their schedules did not permit launching a new radio show, Lisa Foster and Pat Cashman decided that the idea of launching a podcast instead was ideal.

Lisa Foster tells us, “We really knew next to nothing about podcasting, but deciding to jump in anyway. Since the medium was so under-utilized and not something embraced by the common user, we knew that we weren’t jumping into a very crowded pool, so the chances of us hitting our heads on a rock were pretty slim. Even though we didn’t know really how to swim in these new broadcasting waters, we decided to risk it. “

Podcasts have only been around since the early/mid 2000’s, and while everyone knows what the radio and TV media is, over half of the population is not familiar with podcasting. Podcasting is strictly an internet medium, meaning, if you don’t have access to a computer, you cannot listen to podcasts…

Fans of their radio show were delighted to know that they were “on the air” again, but it has still been a struggle explaining to new listeners HOW to listen. They are still going through the infancy phase of the podcast – but since there are no rules, they are free to try out new ideas. “As podcasting starts to slowly climb onto the same playing field as radio and TV, we hope we can sustain a solid listenership. For now, monetizing these shows is still an experiment; we basically are doing it for ourselves and our fans at this point.”, says Lisa.

Most of the podcast is unscripted, although some of the supporting material is added in post production. The challenging part of putting the podcast together wasn’t content, but understanding the technology behind it. “Since podcasting is internet-based, it was an area that took a lot of research to determine how to get the product to the consumer. RSS feeds, iTunes approval and subscriptions, FTP uploads and the like had to all fit together before listeners could even HEAR the show…”

Lisa Foster’s advice to start a podcast is to focus on content first. Get a few shows done, script them if you need to, and then learn the technology that brings them to your listener. There’s more to launching a podcast than just talking into a microphone.

Despite studying theater and drama in college (and always having an interest in the arts), Natalie never had any desire to be in front of a camera or on stage. At 20 years old, she discovered that voiceovers existed, but didn’t have any space in her busy schedule (she was single, had a mortgage and a very demanding job as a sales manager of a daily newspaper) to pursue a possible career shift into voiceovers. 12 years later, Natalie was married and a stay-at-home mom and she was looking for an outlet that would challenge her creatively. That was when she searched out Such A Voice.

Natalie’s training program focused on technique, visualization, pitch, inflection and lateral reading. "My training combined with the resources that Such A Voice offers in the Members Only Area has all aspects of the industry. It helped me work on developing my voice style, setting up my marketing, a business plan and more! I felt like I had an entire spectrum of knowledge from Such A Voice, I had a plan and knew what I needed to do to get started. I also joined in on the live bi-weekly training sessions, which I found extremely useful in helping guide me as a new voiceover talent".

When Natalie was ready to step into the voiceover booth, she was happy to have a trained producer from Such A Voice by her side "In an area that I knew nothing about I was happy to have someone so well-versed in recording demos. You need to make sure you get the best demo you can, that is what you’ll be selling at the beginning!" From there, Natalie often referred back to the resources provided by the Such A Voice program to set up her website and market herself on various social media and pay-to-play sites. She takes full advantage of web marketing between Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, YouTube, Voices.com and Voice123.com!

Being a stay-at-home mom in the voiceover industry, Natalie probably appreciates the flexibility in her schedule most. However, she does say that lack of time is probably her biggest downfall. She loves having the ability to fit her work in around her very busy schedule instead of having a set of strict office hours. "Sometimes I get a big job that my day schedule doesn’t work with, so I stay up late to get the tracks recorded instead. My family will always come first, but with voiceovers I don’t have to choose between the two, there can be a happy balance".

Natalie did a great job marketing herself, she attributes this to the fact that she was in advertising sales for 9 years when she entered the voiceover industry. "I am determined and I know how to sell, I’m just selling my voice now instead of a product. When I first started in the business I created lists of local potential clients: advertising agencies, marketing agencies, TV stations, radio stations, producers, telephone on-hold companies and more! I had no problem picking up the phone and calling them to sell myself and get my demo’s out to as many people as I could."

Voiceovers have kept Natalie VERY busy since she completed her training with Such A Voice! "Last week I completed my 65th voice over project, the latest that I’m working on is a 70 minute (80 page) educational video for a German university." Her first job came from Voice123.com, it was a two-minute telephone on-hold recording. "I felt like I had won the lottery when I booked that job!"

When we asked Natalie what her advice was for aspiring voiceover artists, we couldn’t help but nod emphatically as we listened to her answer: "If you are getting into the industry, get a professional demo cut! Use every avenue you have to promote your name. Don’t be afraid to offer free work at the beginning, as long as you then have their permission to reference that work on your voiceover resume (and use a recording of it on your website). I found that it was hard to have NO experience and a demo, so I offered a few freebies. I then took those freebies and used them as examples of my work. I requested testimonials from every client I worked with and asked permission to quote their company name. Within a short period of time I had an impressive resume for voiceovers!"

We’re so proud of your many successes, Natalie! We can’t wait to see (or hear) what you do next!